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ISLAND OF BARLEY

4/13/2019

2 Comments

 
In 1995, the programming language Java was released by Sun Microsystems. Later that year, Netscape released Javascript, an unrelated language characterized by similar syntax but with more fluidity and intended use in browsers. That name was considered by many to be a marketing ploy to gain prominence for their platform. So it all comes back to Java, which was named for the creators' love for the coffee. Yup, it's that simple. The coffee name obviously comes from the Indonesian island where the type was originally grown. That toponym is actually a shortening of a Sanskrit word, Yavadvipa, which meant "island of barley", composed of yava ("barley") and dvipa ("island"). That would most likely make the name Indo-European, but I can't find sources tracing it back further.
2 Comments
wilo
4/20/2019 04:35:07 pm

You've got them backwards... /yava/ is corn (in the original sense, not maize), or barley, and /dvīpa/ is "Island". /yava/ seems to be related to Greek ζεά "spelt", Lithuanian /javaī/ "corn", and Old Irish /eorna/ "barley".

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Adam Aleksic link
4/20/2019 07:42:20 pm

Thank you for your correction; I've fixed the error.

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    Hello! I'm Adam Aleksic, a senior studying government and linguistics at Harvard University, where I co-founded the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society. In addition to etymology, I also really enjoy trivia, politics, vexillology, geography, board games, conlanging, art history, and law. 
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